


At the Edge of Change

by BranHowe



Series: At the Edge of Time [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Casbriel - Freeform, Castiel is a supportive dad, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, M/M, cabriel - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 10:58:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19744327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BranHowe/pseuds/BranHowe
Summary: Heaven is stable, Jack is an independent grown man, what comes next for Gabriel and Cas?





	At the Edge of Change

“I want to be a lawyer.”

Gabriel and Castiel looked at the nephil like he had grown another head.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I… I want to be a lawyer. I have been travelling throughout the world for years now and I have done as much good as I can killing monsters but there’s so much we could do to improve the lives of every human being in the world if we helped rewrite the laws they work with… I just have to give it a try.”

“Jack, we’re celestial beings, we shouldn’t interfere with the human world that way.”

“No uncle Gabriel, you are celestial beings. But I am _half_ a celestial being. Don’t you get it? The only reason I had stayed on the side killing monsters was because they were supernatural beings like I am. But I had been looking at it the other way around and I’ve realized that I have to work as a human too.” 

Castiel thought with fondness how Jack’s smile was still as bright as it had been when he had first met him. He was surprised at how he had been able to keep that core belief in humankind’s goodness, just as much as Sam had once.

“Well then, you’d better find out how to get some fake papers. Nobody’s gonna believe you’re over sixty years old.” 

Gabriel turned to Castiel with a shocked look while Jack beamed at him.

“Are you kidding me!? He’s the most powerful being in the world, can create whatever he wants from scratch, even angels, and you’re gonna let him throw himself at the eternally mundane and boring doom of a career in Law?”

“Jack is right Gabriel, he has to live as a human if he wants to understand how they work and how to help them best. The life of a hunter is a kind of way to live as a human but it’s not the norm. Millions of people walk around the earth never encountering themselves with an ounce of weird.”

Gabriel was stunned, he motioned to answer back but whatever it was he wanted to convey against the idea he realized that neither Castiel or Jack were going to be convinced by his points. He finally groaned and threw his hands.

“Whatever, do what you want. If your dad says you can then who am I to stop it.”

Jack looked at him for a second and turned serious.

“Uncle Gabriel, you are part of my family, of course I care about what you think.”

Gabriel looked at Jack stunned before flushing and looking aside.

“W...well I think it’s stupid but if you really want to I guess it’s ok…”

Gabriel approached Jack and placed his hands over his shoulders, he sighed a bit sad.

“And I know that your father would have been proud.”

Jack’s eyes trembled for a second before he smiled widely.

“But I’ll only be completely okay with it as long as you apply to Stanford.”

Castiel sniffed a bit. When he felt like he couldn’t love Gabriel more, he proved him that there was always something else that made him the best in the world. They bid Jack goodbye and asked him to contact them in case he needed anything. Gabriel had proposed to just snap his fingers to provide Jack with his papers and a bank account but he had said he could do it. Still Gabriel kept counting the days until the nephil gave in and called them for something. There was so much to deal with when it came to setting his existence as a normal human being in order. Birth records, school documents, bank histories. Gabriel’s head was hurting just by thinking of all of that but to his surprise the only moment they received a call was when Jack had received the date of his entrance exam. Maybe he was still seeing Jack as a child.

The next day, Jack appeared at the throne room with two boxes literally filled with books. The highschool papers he had were forged so he had not had to study up until that point. It was quite a funny sight to look at Gabriel and Castiel sitting on the floor writing down notes on some heavenly issues while their son hoarded the desk. Right now he was being schooled on History by Zepheruel.

“Okay but why I cannot write down what really happened to Cleopatra then?”

“You have to understand Jack, that we know what really happened because we were there to watch. That has always been our job. But humans do not have this insight. They have to look at the vestiges of the past and make conjectures on what really happened. Which is why you have to remember what’s on the book and work with that, otherwise you’ll get bad grades because you did not adhere to the knowledge they hold.”

“Even when that knowledge is wrong?”

“In History, there’s nothing much you can do unless you’re able to bring evidence of an event unfurling in a different way.”

“Very much like a trial.” Chimed in Gabriel, who was leaning against the couch, legs sprawled in front of him and a couple of notes scattered around him.

Poor Jack was having the worst of headaches with that. Fortunately for him, Math had been completely straightforward and he had loved that. You simply had to follow the formula to get the right answer. Castiel helped him when he got stuck at Literature and, to everyone’s shock, Gabriel pretty much gave him a master class on Physics and Chemistry.

“How are you able to demonstrate how each law works so well?” Asked Castiel awed at his partner. For him, and probably for all the other angels, the laws of movement were an inherent knowledge. They worked with them on instinct so it was extremely hard to explain them to anyone. 

The rest of the angels were just as awed as Castiel, Gabriel had started his lecture only with Jack and Castiel as attendants but eventually more angels arrived with other errands in mind but ultimately stayed due to the simple fact that they were witnessing an archangel imparting the understandings of god’s laws.

Gabriel snickered at Castiel. “Probably one of the few perks of arriving early to the party.” He winked playfully at him.

“Neither Michael or Raphael ever bothered to explain us any of that...” Said Haruel still impressed by all that had been taught.

“Yeah, that might not have been really high on their priorities.” Gabriel sighed and then looked at everyone. “Alright people, that’s it for today! Jack needs to rest to absorb everything he has learned so far. If you need anything with me I’ll be back in six hours.” 

With the makeshift class dispersed, Gabriel and Castiel helped Jack order his notes and sent him to his room. Once he was settled there Castiel sighed and walked towards their room, knowing perfectly well that those six hours Gabriel had imparted were meant to be shared only with each other.

“I really can’t believe that Jack is going to Stanford.”

“As long as he passes the exam that is.” Smirked Gabriel, following lightly Castiel’s path. 

A month passed and Jack presented his exam. He was extremely nervous. That day they all sat at a diner near the University when it all finished. Poor Jack looking just as spent as the day he had gone reckless and decided to create twenty angels at the same time.

He rambled on about the questions and the time he had been given for each of them and how he had totally forgotten everything about over half of the American presidents because he never really thought that it would be important to know about them even when they were on American land. Gabriel laughed heartily at this “Yeah, they get conceited like that.” was all he said about it.

Later on that day, they left Jack at the bunker after reassuring him he had done great and that he was bound to pass the exam. He deserved to lay on the bed and either fall asleep or binge watch the fairly new Dune series he hadn’t been able to catch up on while Castiel and Gabriel went back to Heaven. He had promised to call them once he received an answer.

Once both angels were back in Heaven, Castiel moved purposefully to their room. He wanted to relish the time they had spent together and going back to heavenly chores was not the best way to make that happen. When he opened the door, he couldn't help but smile joyfully surprised. Up until yesterday their room had been a very minimalistic concrete and burnished metal design that Castiel loved that opened up to a Japanese interior garden. Now, the door gave on to a bed of tropical foliage opening to a calm beach with soft pale white sand surrounded by hard rocks. Their bed falling close to the shore framed with a palm roof and light curtains flowing lightly with the wind. Castiel smiled widely.

“Tulum?”

“I know you liked it.” Whispered Gabriel fondly on his ear placing his hand over his waist and brushing a soft peck on his neck. “Go on, take off your shoes.”

Castiel didn’t need more prodding to comply, he kneeled to unlace his shoes while Gabriel did the same with his boots. Once shoe free, they took off all their layers until only a shirt and jeans were on. Gabriel was proud of the fact that he had managed to place Castiel into dark denim and sexy tight henleys after so many years, even the old beige overcoat had eventually been replaced by a soft and sexy leather jacket. The rest of their stuff was abandoned over a rock near the entrance. It wasn’t like there would be anyone near to steal them.

The sand was cold where shadows hit and really hot where sun landed but the way each grain of sand glided through the fingers of his feet was more than welcome after five months of constant work. 

“Tell you what, once Jack passes his exam we should take him out on a trip. Do you know of any place where he wants to go?”

“I haven’t asked him lately but I’ll do. I’d rather take him somewhere we both like though...”

They reached the tropical canopy bed and threw themselves over the plush pillows. Gabriel leaned close to Castiel to hug him while Castiel placed an arm behind his head and surrounded him with the other. Both angels sighed. They stayed caressing each other, each of them musing their own thoughts.

“You know Cas… Things have been going pretty smooth up here for a while.”

“That is because you are extremely good at managing Heaven despite complaining all the time and Jack’s aid in providing new angels has been invaluable.”

Gabriel huffed, Castiel knew he hated it when he was acknowledged as leader. Even after all these years some of the older angels still slipped off the “Yes, Sir!” his brother Michael forged in them for centuries when he was being particularly serious about something and it irked him a lot.

“Yeah whatever, that’s not the point.”

Castiel turned to look at him. Gabriel took in some air.

“The point is… Maybe we could let the rest of the guys deal with the daily ropes and just catch up if there was something really odd needing attention while we do our own stuff.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, you know… Get back downstairs, live a little… maybe put up a store of some sort.”

“A store?”

“I was thinking a bakery. Or probably a café. A café with freshly baked goods. Someplace where you could go at any hour and feel revived.”

“That would require the best coffee and the best pastries... maybe some pie.”

“Yes! The best pecan pie.”

Castiel held Gabriel closer while kissing his forehead.

“And where would we put that store?”

“Oh I dunno, somewhere crowded with lots of people.”

Castiel suddenly realized what Gabriel was truly trying to say.

“Crowded like a University?”

“Exactly! A University. With lots of students.”

“Someplace like Stanford.”

“Yeah, I mean we’d have to look around but Stanford could be good.”

Castiel smiled widely now while Gabriel shrugged like he had not been thinking about that for the longest time.

“I think I would like that.”

Gabriel turned to look at him beaming.

“What would we call the place?”

“Not something trite.”

“Oh… Guess I’ll have to cross ‘A Slice of Heaven’ out from the list.”


End file.
